What shopping in charity shops makes you realise about the high street at the moment?

[Britpopbaby]

I picked up a Richard’s cardigan in a charity shop today for less than £7 which is 70% lambs wool? 20% angora and 10 percent nylon. You’d be hard pushed to find that kind of composition on the high street now and I imagine that of you did it would be part of a premium range.

Charity shops suggest to me we buy a lot more stuff than we need. People buy stuff they don't need on high street and pnever wear it and then give it to charity shop so they don't feel too guilty. Then people like me buy the unwanted thing (that I probably don't need either) and get a real buzz out of buying something at a fraction of the original cost. I guess it's another form of consumerism but maybe I feel a little less guilty because my £ is in part going to a charity and I help reduce waste.

I have to admit to getting a real kick out of finding a bargain. I have found some great cashmere scarves and lovely skirts.

I don't see much stuff from bygone years. Charity shops around me have lots of stuff that I think was probably bought on holiday as I don't recognise the brand. Makes it feel even more of a success.

I love charity shopping and have not bought any new items of clothing for myself or DC for over a decade, bar school uniform. It does, however, make me think that there are enough clothes in the world to enable clothing manufacture to cease for the foreseeable without anyone having to go naked, thus saving both energy and resources and giving the planet some respite.

It does make me worry about 'forever fibres' in clothing items which will never biodegrade, and the manufacture of which is heavy on resources and energy, yet which hang, in row upon bobbled row, turning what used to be a thrilling experience of winning at life into a distressing reflection on junk society.

I find that everything in the high street is homogeneous nowadays. Remember the gorgeous outfits that Trinny & Susannah used to put together? I sometimes use that as a barometer of something is too 90s/00s looking in a charity shop!

Yeah, I get a buzz at finding a charity shop bargain!
Most of DS clothes are hand-me-downs as well, and I give his stuff to a friend’s child. It’s great to re-use kids clothes.

We were in the States over the holidays and wow did my 18 year old DD have a blast! Think the size of TK Maxx but full of second hand. You have to trawl through (just like a TK Max) but for $110 she got a leather blazer, two tweed jackets, a velvet fitted evening jacket, two skirts, two jumpers, two pairs leather boots, two pairs shoes. One of the shoes is a bit ropey but the way she wears it is fine (with leg warmers), the rest in very good to excellent condition and good quality. Here the shops are small so lucky if she even finds one or two things, and usually priced high - she reckons the prices over there were a third of what she'd pay here. She'll never buy new again (and tonight spent her evening going through eBay but for very specific items). She loves the 70s look so charity shops can come up with some gems.

Oh I do love a charity shop

Best bargain was a Hobbs dress, saw it, loved it, £12, slightly too small but when I saw it was £140 online ( yep it was that years )I got it and slimmed into it. Broke my heart to have to pay £16 for the dry cleaning of it lol

Im smiling at the comments about how clothes were so much better made in the 90's, I think that when people of my generation were beginning to moan about how shoddy things were getting , seams and hems were becoming a thing of the past. I got a skirt last week in the sale, original price £79, mum ( 86) was gobsmacked that it wasnt lined!!!! I laughed but when I went to hang it, it went beside a cheap skirt from Tesco bought in the 00's which I couldn't have paid more then £15 for and yep - fully lined

Clothes sizing has always been weird. I just went through my wardrobe this year, I have/had clothes in it from the late 80's till now, from size 8 to 18. Buying today Im a size 10 in skirts and trousers , I have a Per Una skirt from the very first collection, size 12 and it fits , Ive size 10 dress trousers from the 00's and they are snug . A jacket from JL size 14 (90's) is a snug fit ( no jumpers ) yet a size 12 bought this year fits perfectly

Its not just clothe sizing that weird, shoe sizing is just as bad. I have shoes ranging between a 3 and 6 - im usually 4.5/5

@WillYouPutYourCoatOn Absolutely this, perfect post. Especially with childrens clothing (I've got 4) and whereas nothing should be disposable, it does calm you down a bit if they spill things down or ruin a piece of clothing that you have bought for a few pounds. Every time it comes back around into a charity shop with a new owner, it raises more money for them and their cause.

We have some that are very good here .M and S trousers and lots of tops as well.Good pries generally

I remember my mum shopping at Richard's for special occasions- it was more a rival of Principles than Dorothy Perkins and definitely aimed at Middle Class older women. I consider Boden, Hobbs, White Company, Jigsaw etc. to be a premium brands today- their sweaters are often still wool.

I'm always amazed by the piles of beautiful pressed glass trifle bowls, punch bowls, dessert coupes and fruit bowls there are in charity shops. So despite the general tinier sizes, they were eating pudding now and again - just presumably not all the time, and in smaller portions.

They make fantastic planters for hyacinth bulbs.

I love charity shops but finding clothes in them requires more time and patience than I currently have. Last year's best scores included a versatile Toast skirt and Escada dress (fit&flare buttoned, denim, tiny daisy embroidery detail on the back yoke: gloriously 90s! And still working through a box of sewing patterns from 1920s-70s.
Regularly buy books and random clutter homeware though.

😀Hyacinths are a great idea - wonder I never thought of that.

I always look at those bowls and think they are lovely too.

I got a lovely crystal bowl before Christmas. Fiver. Not small, not large, just right. Perfect for putting the sweeties in!

I sometimes when I remember plant up a few pretty glass trifle bowls as extra Christmas presents for friends who like that sort of thing - then after Christmas they've either got a new fruit/trifle/salad bowl too, or they can donate it back.

That they have no idea how to price clothes - Primark and Peacocks often priced similarly to Hobbs and LK Bennett. I'm not paying a fiver for a 2nd hand Primark tee that's made from nasty polyester and was only priced at £6 originally....

On the size issue, I took a skirt out of the not-in-wear cupboard yesterday that I bought in JL Brent Cross about 1989 (European 38) and it did not do up. Time to shed a few lbs! I am still a 38 in most Euro brands now, or smaller. Therefore we were all thinner then.

I've written about my charity shop habit loads but, to try and answer the op's question, it makes me realise just how much I enjoy the experience of physical bricks n' mortar shopping, and that the high street is missing a huge trick by focussing on online platforms, at least as far as my custom is concerned.

Our local charity shops tend to have stuff from the shops we had in the high street, we only have an original factory shop now so it'll be interesting to see how they get stock in future.

For those who remember Richard shops - they closed in 1999. I recall them selling pretty dresses and blouses. Still got a navy and white polka dot dress in my wardrobe (bought at a jumble sale). I recall them being a bit more expensive than Dorothy Perkins:

https://en-academic.com/dic.nsf/enwiki/9240080

I think it was in the 70s that we had a problem with hems sewn with plastic thread? Does anyone remember? I presume it was an attempt to cut costs in the days when clothing was made nearer to home - including round here in NE England.

You know clothes shrink when they are left in the cupboard?!

I've always loved second hand clothing shops. When I was an art student in the late 60s-early 70s, we used to trawl second hand shops for padded shouldered coats and jackets from the 30s and 40s. You could still find long Art Deco patterned scarves. I bought two still in their packets, Marks and Spencer, fitted, bias cut, full length, fine cotton lawn 1930s nightdresses which I dyed black and dark brown and wore at parties.

DH claims that too @muddyford !

I remember Richards shops. I never shopped there as the clothing was middle of the road and old fashioned.

I shopped in Biba, Chelsea Girl, Snob, etc. I don’t recall the quality but the styling was great.

I'm 61 and I've always loved clothes and looked after them, always remembering that buying the best you can afford, but less of it, pays in the end. Charity shop items we'd now think of as vintage, remind me of how well clothes were constructed, how they had details such as darts, pleating, interesting pockets, and so much other detailing long since forgotten. Skirts and dresses if needed had linings, as did jackets. Coats had weight. Knitwear was more often than not wool or a mix of and we didn't check labels for the content, you could feel the wool. Richards Shops was middle of the road and had a slightly older demographic in its heyday, including the shop styling, but did have the odd item that hit the spot and I remember late 70s purchasing a lovely coat, wool, long length, beautiful grey marl and very warm, brilliant for waiting for the bus to work and a classic that I grew bored of and showed no signs of wear when it went off to a friend, as clothing was often swapped and moved on then! Sizing was smaller and I was a 14 in the 70s / 80s, now more like a 10. Shopping was a great fun activity, wandering from store to store looking for a gem you could afford and the sales were an event where you hoped that more expensive items, from a brand that you couldn't afford full price, but had your eye on, would have something in your price range and I bought blouses from Planet, Mansfield, Jaeger, brands stocked in the large West End department stores and not seen elsewhere! I liked Wallis for dresses and coats (they always sized up and used to copy designs from elsewhere, so some great styles), the original Next where I'd rush to South Moulton Street to see what was new in that week, M&S and would visit the Marble Arch store for the items they only stocked there as exclusive lines, Jeff Bank's Warehouse and remember a wonderful black velvet puff ball skirt, Miss Selfridge and Top Shop pre PG. Even street markets had items (from regular traders) that would leave a great deal of what we buy today standing. What do I remember - choice, quality, being able to shop where retailers took a risk with something a little more quirky and fabrics were so much nicer to wear.